Men's Basketball

Preview: Red Devils Wrap Up Exhibition Slate Sunday in Chicago

Photo courtesy of Michael Hammerstrand.

Nov 11, 2017

CHICAGO, Ill. -- The Eureka College men's basketball team will continue a busy weekend against NCAA Division I competition on Sunday when the Red Devils travel to Chicago, Ill. for a 2 p.m. tip-off against Loyola at Gentile Arena. The contest against the Ramblers is Eureka's second and final exhibition game prior to the start of the 2017-18 regular season.

Eureka and Loyola will be meeting for the third time on Sunday in Chicago. The Red Devils dropped an 84-51 regular-season matchup on Nov. 14, 2015. The Ramblers won an exhibition meeting last season, 97-59 on Nov. 14, 2016.

RED DEVILS DROP EXHIBITION FRIDAY AT NORTH TEXAS

Eureka took its first road trip to the state of Texas since the 2012-13 season, Friday night, coming up short in a 122-65 exhibition loss to NCAA Division I North Texas at The Super Pit in Denton, Texas.

Shea Feehan led all scorers with 24 points in 30 minutes of action. He finished the contest 10-for-12 from the foul line and connected on four of the Red Devils' nine 3-pointers. Hank Thomas also reached double figures with 13 points and distributed three assists.

EUREKA VS. DIVISION I

Eureka will visit an NCAA Division I opponent for the 15th time of the Chip Wilde coaching era on Sunday. Eureka, which will also travel to Central Michigan for a regular-season contest on Nov. 18, has yet to break through for a victory against its scholarship opposition.

Eastern Illinois has been the Red Devils' most frequent Division I opponent. EC has played EIU four times since Nov. 21, 2009. The Red Devils have also played Western Illinois (three times), Texas-Rio Grande Valley, SIUE, Bradley, Northern Illinois and North Texas between regular season and exhibition competition. The closest call for Eureka was a 77-74 defeat at Ohio Valley Conference member SIUE on Dec. 18, 2012.

PRESEASON SLIAC POLL

Eureka was picked to finish fourth in the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference in 2017-18, according to a preseason poll conducted by league head coaches last month. Defending SLIAC Tournament champion Westminster was voted by the coaches as preseason favorite.

Westminster received half of the 10 first-place votes to secure 72 total points in the poll. MacMurray, less than a year removed from a ninth-place finish, moved up the ladder to be picked second with 67 points and received four first-place votes. Greenville, which won the regular-season SLIAC crown a year ago, was voted third with 56 points. The Red Devils followed in fourth with 54 points, narrowly missing the third spot.

Spalding garnered the final first-place vote to be slotted fifth in the poll. Webster, Principia, Iowa Wesleyan, Blackburn and Fontbonne filled out the bottom half of the ballot.

ABOUT LOYOLA

Loyola opened its season 1-0 Friday night after an 84-80 non-conference victory over Wright State in Chicago.

Donte Ingram put up a game-high 21 points on a 7-for-12 effort from the floor. Clayton Custer added 18 points and Cameron Krutwig came off the bench for 17 points and a team-high seven boards. Four players scored in double figures for the Ramblers, who shot 55 percent (28-for-51) from the floor as a team.

Eight letterwinners and three starters return from a year ago. The Ramblers went 18-14 overall last season, including an 8-10 mark against Missouri Valley Conference compeition. Aundre Jackson is Loyola's top returning scorer, averaging 14.1 points primarily as the Rambers' first player off the bench. Ingram (13.6) and Custer (11.6) also averaged double-digit points last winter.

MEET THE HEAD COACHES

The owner of more than two decades of coaching experience at the collegiate level, Chip Wilde will enter his 11th season as head coach at Eureka in 2017-18. The upcoming campaign marks Wilde's 20th season as a collegiate basketball head coach.

Wilde has proved to be one of the most successful head coaches in the storied history of Eureka men's basketball, establishing the Red Devils as a steady presence in the SLIAC both on the court and in the classroom. Wilde entered the 2017-18 campaign with 117 wins, fourth-most in the 99-year history of the program.

Porter Moser is in his seventh season as head coach at Loyola. The 1990 Creighton graduate has 195 career coaching victories and previously served as head coach at Arkansas-Little Rock (2000-03) and Illinois State (2003-07).

During his first six seasons in Rogers Park, the Naperville, Ill. native has changed the program's culture and reestablished recruiting in the Chicago area, all while also successfully navigating the transition to the Missouri Valley Conference. Loyola's 57 wins over the last three seasons are the most over a three-year period in three decades.

FOLLOW THE ACTION ONLINE

Sunday's game will be broadcast live on ESPN3. Live statistics will be available at LoyolaRamblers.com. Direct links to both services will be available at EurekaRedDevils.com.